New State of Play in Information Systems Research: The Push to the Edges (original) (raw)
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Applying and theorizing institutional frameworks in IS research
Information Technology & People, 2014
This article investigates how Information Systems researchers apply institutional theoretical frameworks. Our aim is to explore the operationalization of meta-theoretical frameworks for empirical research which can often present difficulties in IS research. We include theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects to explore modalities of use. After an overview of institutional concepts, we carry out a thematic analysis of empirical journal papers on IS and institutional theory indexed in databases from 1999 to 2009. This consists of descriptive, thematic coding and cluster analysis of this textual database; this combined qualitative and quantitative method offers a unique way of analyzing how operationalization is carried out. On the basis of thematic coding and cluster analysis, our findings suggest three groups of publications which represent different methodological approaches and empirical foci: 'descriptive exploratory approaches', 'generalizing approaches', and 'sociological approaches'. We suggest that these three groups represent possible patterns of the use of 'meta' social theories in IS research, reflecting a search for disciplinary legitimacy. This helps us analyze papers according to how they use and apply theories. We identify the "organizing vision" and the regulatory approach as two institutionalist 'intermediary' concepts developed by IS researchers. Furthermore, we find that institutional theoretical frameworks have been used in 'direct', 'intermediary' or 'combined' conceptualizations. We also confirm the dynamism of the IS institutional research stream, as evidenced by the increase in number of articles between 1999 and 2009, and identify a maturation process of the IS field in investigating a social theory. As a conclusion, we make suggestions to blend different conceptualizations, methodologies and empirical foci to enrich the use of institutionalist theories in IS empirical research.
2015
Recent articles such as Avison and Malaurent (2014) and Grover and Lyytinen (2015) question taken-for-granted assumptions about the centrality of theory in research published in leading journals and the near necessity of following repetitive scripts that sometimes are an obstacle to creativity. This paper goes a step further by providing examples and observations that illustrate five seemingly insurmountable challenges related to attaining long-term value from theorizing about information systems. 1) Divergent definitions of basic terms makes it extremely difficult to accumulate IS knowledge. 2) The IS discipline seems to take for granted that knowledge must take the form of theory. 3) Many beliefs and practices related to IT will not hold still for long due to the rapid pace of technological change 4) Most concepts and phenomena that are relevant to IS are not uniquely about IS. 5) Institutional practices at multiple levels encourage use of scripts that are obstacles to creativity ...
Community on the watch: making sense of is research through the lens of espoused theories of is
2009
Community on the Watch: Making Sense of IS Research through the Lens of Espoused Theories of IS In the IS field there has been an ongoing tradition to study the publication output of the community in order to evaluate the current and potential situation of IS research. In this work, we follow a different strategy and study what IS research claims to be. We look at those so-called 'espoused theories of IS' as found in the General Editorials Statements (GES) of IS journals. Based on the AISWorld journal ranking, we collected GES for 30 leading IS journals for the years 1997 and 2007. We applied thematic, lexicometric, and factor analyses to the datasets of the 1997 and the 2007 GES. Our results show that the representation of IS research in the GES has changed little over the last decade.
Information Technology & People, 2014
This article investigates how Information Systems researchers apply institutional theoretical frameworks. Our aim is to explore the operationalization of meta-theoretical frameworks for empirical research which can often present difficulties in IS research. We include theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects to explore modalities of use. After an overview of institutional concepts, we carry out a thematic analysis of empirical journal papers on IS and institutional theory indexed in databases from 1999 to 2009. This consists of descriptive, thematic coding and cluster analysis of this textual database; this combined qualitative and quantitative method offers a unique way of analyzing how operationalization is carried out. On the basis of thematic coding and cluster analysis, our findings suggest three groups of publications which represent different methodological approaches and empirical foci: 'descriptive exploratory approaches', 'generalizing approaches', and 'sociological approaches'. We suggest that these three groups represent possible patterns of the use of 'meta' social theories in IS research, reflecting a search for disciplinary legitimacy. This helps us analyze papers according to how they use and apply theories. We identify the "organizing vision" and the regulatory approach as two institutionalist 'intermediary' concepts developed by IS researchers. Furthermore, we find that institutional theoretical frameworks have been used in 'direct', 'intermediary' or 'combined' conceptualizations. We also confirm the dynamism of the IS institutional research stream, as evidenced by the increase in number of articles between 1999 and 2009, and identify a maturation process of the IS field in investigating a social theory. As a conclusion, we make suggestions to blend different conceptualizations, methodologies and empirical foci to enrich the use of institutionalist theories in IS empirical research.
Journal of Information Technology, 2019
Although there has been a growing understanding of theory in the Information Systems (IS) field in recent years, the process of theorizing is rarely addressed with contributions originating from other disciplines and little effort to coherently synthesize them. Moreover, the field’s view of theorizing has traditionally focused on the context of justification with an emphasis on collection and analysis of data in response to a research question with theory often added as an afterthought. To fill this void, we foreground the context of discovery that emphasizes the creative and often serendipitous articulation of theory by emphasizing this important stage of theorizing as a reflective and highly iterative practice. Specifically, we suggest that IS researchers engage in foundational theorizing practices to form the discourse, problematize the phenomenon of interest and leverage paradigms, and deploy generative theorizing practices through analogies, metaphors, myths, and models to develop the IS discourse. To illustrate the detailed workings of these discursive practices, we draw on key examples from IS theorizing.
Information Technology & People, 2014
This article investigates how Information Systems researchers apply institutional theoretical frameworks. Our aim is to explore the operationalization of meta-theoretical frameworks for empirical research which can often present difficulties in IS research. We include theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects to explore modalities of use. After an overview of institutional concepts, we carry out a thematic analysis of empirical journal papers on IS and institutional theory indexed in databases from 1999 to 2009. This consists of descriptive, thematic coding and cluster analysis of this textual database; this combined qualitative and quantitative method offers a unique way of analyzing how operationalization is carried out. On the basis of thematic coding and cluster analysis, our findings suggest three groups of publications which represent different methodological approaches and empirical foci: ‘descriptive exploratory approaches’, ‘generalizing approaches’, and ‘sociological approaches’. We suggest that these three groups represent possible patterns of the use of ‘meta’ social theories in IS research, reflecting a search for disciplinary legitimacy. This helps us analyze papers according to how they use and apply theories. We identify the “organizing vision” and the regulatory approach as two institutionalist ‘intermediary’ concepts developed by IS researchers. Furthermore, we find that institutional theoretical frameworks have been used in ‘direct’, ‘intermediary’ or ‘combined’ conceptualizations. We also confirm the dynamism of the IS institutional research stream, as evidenced by the increase in number of articles between 1999 and 2009, and identify a maturation process of the IS field in investigating a social theory. As a conclusion, we make suggestions to blend different conceptualizations, methodologies and empirical foci to enrich the use of institutionalist theories in IS empirical research.
Muddling Along to Moving Beyond in IS Research: Getting from Good to Great
Journal of the Association for Information Systems
In this article, I argue that the IS field seems to be doing well when evaluated with sociometric techniques. However, while the progress of our field is commendable, we might have reached diminishing returns in the way we conduct research with our current modus operandi. Given that we are dealing with the most important phenomena of our time, I believe that it is time to become more ambitious and expand our impact to other domains and disciplines by creating more enduring and impactful research. I argue that four key dimensions on which we should place emphasis include: our institutionalization of a certain genre of research, monistic theorizing of our phenomena, the focus on questions for which data is easier to access, and our unwillingness to deeply engage with reference discipline theories. Addressing these through individual and collective efforts can help us expand the frontiers of our knowledge product and create broader value.
Transactions of International Information …, 2003
This paper suggests that the emergence of large scale integrated business and financial information systems is another aspect of the deconstruction of financial and business realities into a simulacrum. It draws largely upon Baudrillard"s theory of modern society and how this society processes and exploits information in an ever increasing vortex of non-information. IS and management literature argues that large scale information systems such as ERP systems and supply chain integration systems are an important step forward for financial information processing because they integrate the disparate units of business information into a coherent whole. However, whilst this is a very tantalising vision, the reality on the ground seems to be different. This paper posits a theoretical position which adopts neither the traditional positivist, decision theory approach nor the social constructivist theories in which the IS is seen as a primarily social system. Instead the work of French Deconstructivists is used to interpret empirical data gathered by the researcher in a new way suggesting radical new trajectories for information systems research.
Theorizing Society and Technology in Information Systems Research
2016
The world around us is unpredictably changing at a dramatic pace and technology plays an increasingly important, yet ambiguous, role in these global social changes. Is should actively engage with the phenomena that society is changing with and through ICT. To date IS research is mostly interested in technological artifacts and behavioral aspects associated with ICT. We, as IS scholars, have to find theoretical approaches to help us to make sense of and better understand the broader societal and organizational changes related to ICT. We argue that Ou Yang outlines two relational approaches to sensemaking, extending our conceptual and analytical toolkits through the works of Martin Heidegger and Marshall McLuhan. This paper provides a discussion of her contribution in relation to the current debate on sociomateriality.